


jenny

by approxim8ly



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Brendol Hux Sr's A+ Parenting, Han is a mechanic, M/M, Multi, anakin is a former fencing champion, hux denies everything, kylo and rey are siblings, kylo ren is actually less emo somehow but still emo, leia is a senator, phasma is TOUGH, poe is meme king, snoke is a weird guidance counselor that doesnt actually do his job, somewhat vague jedistormpilot but isnt confirmed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-07-15 02:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7202807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/approxim8ly/pseuds/approxim8ly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are a few things that Hux cannot deny, not even to himself.<br/>One, he is probably the most socially awkward person anyone has ever met.<br/>Two, he has exactly one friend, his best friend, Kylo Ren.<br/>Three, he is, probably will be forever, in love with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. jenny darling, you're my best friend

There are a few things that Hux cannot deny, not even to himself.

One, he is probably the most socially awkward person anyone has ever met.

Two, he has exactly one friend, his best friend, Kylo Ren.

Three, he is, probably will be forever, in love with him.

Hux doesn’t really know when it started. Maybe it didn’t start. Maybe it just had always been there. The two had met in middle school and for some reason Ren decided to continue being associated with him.

Hux honestly has no idea why Ren stayed.

It’s not like Ren was a socially inept person. Ren was, and always had been, somewhat of a social butterfly. Despite his rough and almost emo first appearance, Ren was more like a puppy, as long as you knew how to get on his good side.

Hux was almost the complete opposite.

He rarely communicated with anyone at school, save for teachers and projects that required him to talk with his peers. Anyone who called themselves his ‘friend’ had long abandoned him, driven away by his almost apathetic attitude; and if not by that, driven away by Brendol Hux Sr. The first few times Ren had tried to gain his friendship, Hux had turned him away, sure that he would just be left behind again, and almost a little afraid for the other boy’s safety against his father. But Ren had kept coming back. Regardless of consequence. Even as Hux turned him down again and again, each rejection a little less sure.

When Hux finally accepted Ren’s invitation of friendship (tentatively, of course), the look of complete and utter joy on his face made Hux’s heart skip a beat. Ren was infectious, and soon Hux had a slight smile on his face.

He later grimaced, as the muscles were unaccustomed to smiling. At all.

Nevertheless, Ren had stayed, much to Hux’s confusion, but also to his relief. He enjoyed the other boy’s friendship, and slowly, they became permanently engrained on each other’s lives.

 

u ready?

_what should i be ready for?_

did u rly forget? its culture week. world fair at school.

_oh._

you forgot, didnt u.

_it may have slipped my mind._

just dont be late >:P

 

Hux rolls out of bed, rubbing his eyes. He had forgotten, and in doing so, had fallen asleep at four am. Ren had told him to be ready by ten. Hux glances at his clock, the red numbers illuminating that the time was nine am. Hux groans and avoids the mirror, sure that there were dark bruises underneath his eyes. Automatically, almost mechanically, Hux makes his bed and cleans up what little mess remains around, as if he were trying to minimize any signs of a human being actually living in that space. 

Throwing on a button-up shirt and a pair of pants, Hux hurries to brush his hair and teeth. He makes sure that everything is neat and tidy; even flattening out the laces on his shoes as he tugs them on, just as the sound of Ren’s car pulls up into the driveway and Ren honks the horn.

“COMING!” Hux shouts, and fussing with his shirt one last time and grabbing his bag before heading out the door. Really, of all the undignified things, the school had to have the world fair on a Saturday. Hux curses under his breath, darting by his mother and avoiding any signs of his father as he rushes out the door. The sunlight hits his eyes harshly, and Hux hisses as he lifts an arm to shield himself. It was almost as if the world was telling him not to go to this event. But he ignores the world and pushes forward anyway. 

(Because Hux would never miss any chance to be with Ren.)

 

The World fair is messy and crowded and obviously student-run, but there’s a charm to it. The students running the stands are excitable and passionate about whatever country they’re running, and Hux actually snorts when he sees the American stand. Ren tugs at Hux’s hand, pulling him around the tables. Hux is tired and there are bags under his eyes, but he can’t help but smile as Ren bounces around, trying to look at everything at once.

Hux is loathe to admit that he’s actually having a good time. It’s crowded but has a good atmosphere; he now has learned about and picked his absolute favorite country, Sealand. Hux admires the resolve in the tiny country, having a population of only 27, but still saying ‘fuck you’ to the world. 

He’s got an almost-grin on his face, fighting a blush that threatens to climb up his face whenever Ren squeezes his hand tighter to go on to the next bright thing that catches his attention. Hux almost lets go of his composure for a minute, revealing some small softness left inside of him.

He doesn’t, though. Because Hux is not a horny sixth grader. He’s a professional, clean-cut senior and he will not be caught making eyes at his one fucking friend. He won’t allow it.

 

They stay at the fair for the majority of the day, Ren tugging Hux along to every single table, continuously shoving things into Hux’s arms for safekeeping and eating all of the food from each stand. Hux’s arms are overflowing, and he’s long given up on the idea of putting them in his bag; every time he tries to put one thing in the bag, Ren shoves another into his arms. Hux relies mostly on hearing at this point; the pile has reached almost past his eyes.

Eventually, Ren runs out of energy and the two sit on the curb, popsicles in hand and a pile of miscellaneous objects from different countries between them. Hux absentmindedly sifts through the trophies, picking out things that catch his attention, trying not to focus on how Ren’s hair is pulled back and has popsicle all over his face. Hux would hand him a napkin and scold him for making a mess, but his face feels sticky as well and he doesn’t feel like being a hypocrite right now.

“Hey, Hux. What kind of instrument does a skeleton play?” Ren asks. Hux groans.  
“What kind?”  
“A trombone.”  
Hux whacks him on the shoulder. Ren just laughs him off and continues to tease him about the horrible joke. 

Hux refuses to share the joke on his popsicle stick, deeming it too bad to spread. Instead, he snaps it in half and tosses it in the trash bin, while Ren protests and tries to snatch the ruined stick out of his hands. Hux throws a small ornament at the other boy, and Ren yells something about having no honor.  
Eventually, Hux and Ren shove everything that they’ve gathered into Ren’s car, letting it spill over the back seat. Hux is positive that Ren has no intention of cleaning the mess up. Hux carefully picks a few objects out of the front seat, then sits down and the two drive off. 

“So, do you have somewhere to be after this, or are you free for the rest of the afternoon?” Ren asks. “You could stay for dinner, Leia’s making spaghetti.”

“Why are you referring to your own mother with her first name?”

Ren thinks over this, chewing at his lip. “I don’t know. I feel like… I feel like I outgrew ‘Mom.’”

“I can’t imagine she likes that.” Hux retaliates.

“She likes it when I’m comfortable. And that’s what I’m comfortable with.”

Hux is silent for a bit.

“I’m free. I could even sleep over if you want.”

“Cool.”

 

It is safe to say that Leia is no longer surprised to see two boys instead of one, Hux thinks to himself as he walks in the door of the Organa-Solo household. Leia barely even looks up, focusing on a pot of noodles. It’s just as well, Hux spends five out of seven days of the week over at their house anyway. He rarely ever needs an invitation anymore.

“Hello, boys! How was the fair?” She asks, genuinely interested in the different tables that Ren lists off, describing a few things here and there. Hux interjects a sentence or two, but otherwise keeps to himself. Leia listens intently, and seems somewhat disappointed when the two don’t elaborate more.

Hux does not dislike Leia; in fact, he often thinks of her as sort of a second mother. He’s over often enough to basically be a second son. The parent that he is tolerant, but not overly fond of, is one, slightly criminal, grease monkey-

“Chewie, let go of the wrench!” Han Solo’s voice calls out from the garage, and a bunch of crashing noises imply that the man is fighting with his dog over control of said wrench. Hux represses the urge to sigh, rubbing his temple sightly. Han is not a bad person, this much is true, but if he could just clean his workspaces and wasn’t so disorganized maybe then it would be better. Hux knows he shouldn’t be so critical, seeing as Ren is almost the exact same way, but at least Ren doesn’t accidentally smear car oil on his school bag.

Han appears in the doorway, an easy grin on his face and the wrench that he had presumingly just won from Chewbacca’s jaws. His hair is tousled and he’s got car oil up to his elbows, and he’s wearing a ratty old t-shirt and a vest that has several tools poking out of the pockets. Chewbacca barrels into the room, his thick brown pelt dirtied and tangled. 

“His grip is getting stronger every day, I swear!” Han proclaims, aiming the remark mostly at Leia.

“Maybe if you didn’t leave your tools all over the workbench and actually put them where they are supposed to be, he wouldn’t have anything to practise on.” Leia says back, tsking slightly. “And give him a bath soon. Just look at his fur!” Hux silently agrees.

Hux shoots off a quick text to his father, letting him know of his location (mostly so that he can’t blame Hux for not letting him know beforehand, otherwise he couldn’t care less). Ren pulls at his arm, gesturing up the stairs and offering him a crooked smile. Hux stows his phone away in his pocket, then follows Ren up to his wreck of a room.

“Ten minutes until dinner, boys!” Leia calls after them, and Ren makes a noise of acknowledgement and Hux nods.

Ren immediately lays down on his bed when they enter the room, and Hux takes a seat next to him, fiddling with his shirt. “So,” Ren says. “Senior year, huh?”

Hux groans. “Ren, out of all the things to talk about, school is the first thing that pops into your head?” Hux also mentally chides him for lacking tact, but it’s highly unlikely that Ren will ever learn.

Ren laughs slightly, amusement in his eyes. “I live only to torture you, Hux. But seriously. What are we gonna do?”

“I don’t know about you,” Hux sniffs, faking condescension. “But I am going into law, so probably Harvard.”

Ren snorts. “I don’t know what I expected.”

“Oh yeah? Well, what’re you going to do?”

“I don’t know, really.” Ren pauses for a minute, scratching his chin. “It seems so… solid. I don’t really know where to go. Maybe something with art? That’s something I’m good at. Or theatre. Hm.”

“Art? Really? All the complaining I hear about it made me think you hated it.” Hux replies.

“That’s because it’s hard and fucking sucks. Seriously. You don’t know real pain until you try to duplicate a color exactly from scratch.” Ren flops back onto his bed, sticking his tongue out.

“Do you have anything you could show me? You’re awfully secret about your art. I think I saw one piece of it in junior year and then you refused to show me anything else because I laughed at the tiny Darth Vader in the corner.”

“Hey, that was very offensive. I can’t believe you would dare insult my grandfather, the champion fencer.”

Ren shuffles through one of the many piles of things around his room, then pulls out a notebook that is practically falling apart with use. “Here. This is one of my notebooks from the summer. You can keep it, if you want.”  
Hux hesitantly takes the notebook, trying not to make any of the pages fall out. He goes to open it, but at that moment, Leia calls up the stairs at them. Hux places the notebook in his bag, making a note to himself to look at it later.

 

“Y’know, Ren, I guess I don’t know for certain if I’ll go into law.” Hux says into the darkness, later. Dinner has gone by without event, and the two boys had stayed up late into the night. He isn’t even sure if the other boy is conscious.

“What do you want to do?” Ren’s voice is tired, but still interested. 

“I don’t know… I like law, but that seems expected of me. I mean, basically since birth I’ve been pushed in that direction. And it seems to be kind of late to have an existential crisis about this. Although… I kind of like architecture. All of the different types of art and sculptures all made to become something solid and elegant. But Father would never allow it. I’d be cut out of the will for certain.”

“Hux, that’s the point of growing up. You aren’t going to be controlled by your dad anymore. You can do what you want.”

“I guess so. But I’m a little… anxious about what will happen when I do. I’ve never really disobeyed him.”

Hux can hear the shifting of sheets as Ren rolls over to face him, sitting himself up on one elbow. “Hux, don’t worry. He won’t be able to touch you. And I won’t let him, either, assuming we keep contact.”

I certainly hope so, Hux thinks to himself, glad that Ren can’t see his face in the darkness.

He checks the time on his phone, not really focusing at the glowing numbers. 

“Goodnight, General.”

“Goodnight, Ren.”


	2. but there's a few things, that you don't know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holy crud! An apology and an update, all in the same day! Woo! 
> 
> Anyway, now we get to see a bit of the other characters come in. Play nice, everyone!

Hux fidgets with his hands. He doesn’t really know what to do.

Ren is talking with some other girl, Hux thinks her name is Phasma. She’s tall, incredibly fit and muscled, and they’re talking about… the football team? Hux can’t really fathom why this would be a topic of conversation. But, Hux has never been a big fan of sports anyway. All he knows is that he’s probably being an awkward fucking walnut. Phasma’s probably a perfectly fine person, and he’s most definitely ruining a chance at more social interaction and expanding his friendships.

Then again, he’s not sure that either of them are really paying attention to him. He hasn’t said anything in a while, sure, but the way Ren so easily converses with another doesn’t sit well with Hux. Not like he really cares if Ren has other friends, it’s more like he’s disappeared.

The clock’s ticking, and Hux needs to get to class. But he can’t break Ren away from this conversation. That would be… rude. And needy. And Hux does not do needy.

So Hux just leaves. What else is there to do?

“Shit - fuck, sorry Phasma, gotta go.”

Hux turns to see Ren fast-walking in order to catch up to him, and he can’t help but to smile slightly.

“Why’d you leave? You guys seemed to be at least okay with each other’s presence.” Ren asks, and Hux can see he’s genuinely confused.

Hux shrugs. “You seemed like you were having fun. I needed to get to class. I didn’t want to interrupt you.”

“Since when has that stopped you? Phasma understands. Besides, I like walking with you.”

Hux’s heart jumps in a way that he absolutely does not condone when Ren says those last five words, but what he’s really fixating on is something else. Phasma understands. Understands what? Does Phasma have some sort of connection with Ren that Hux doesn’t? Is there some way that Phasma is better? Ren says this so casually, Hux doesn’t know how to interpret it. Hux is so busy analyzing this statement that he doesn’t realize that his composure is slipping and his ‘overreaction alarm’ is going off in his head.

It’s not like Hux really doubts Ren. He, at least, must have his reasons for being around Hux. But Hux can’t really see why he’s worth Ren’s time. He’s gone over it in his head thousands of times, reaching no conclusions and exhausting himself. Again, it’s not like Hux doubts the boy. It’s more like he doubts… himself.

 

Hux isn’t self-conscious. At least, that’s what he tells himself. He’s always had a hyper-realistic view of himself, realizing and coming to terms early on with the fact that he is just a cog in the universe. Almost insignificant.

Which is why he doesn’t understand Ren. The black-haired boy treats him as if he were irreplaceable, as if he were more important than other people. Logically, it doesn’t make sense. But Ren was never very logical.

It’s not like Hux doesn’t like it. He just doesn’t understand it. He is fairly sure that he will never understand the mystery that is Kylo Ren.

 

hux will your architecture teacher care if i come in

_why are you coming in?_

can we have this conversation some other time

_no, aren’t you supposed to be in geometry? aren’t you_ struggling _in geometry?_

hux please i promise its for good reason

_i’ll give you five minutes. then go back to class, idiot._

Hux looks up swiftly as the door opens approximately .3 seconds after he sends the last text. Ren must have been outside during the entire conversation. Hux supposes he couldn’t have really stopped him if he wanted to come in.

“What do you need? I’m a little busy at the moment.” Hux says, looking almost bored. He takes a good look at Ren, who is slightly panting and flushed, presumingly from running to the classroom from god knows where. Hux waits for the other boy to catch his breath, absently sketching a few things on his paper for the project he had been assigned earlier on.

“We have a bit of a problem.” Ren finally gets out, rising to his full height. Hux arches an eyebrow, silently willing him to elaborate. “Can you, uh, take a bathroom break or something? I can’t really just tell you.”

Hux rolls his eyes, then walks over to his teacher’s desk to acquire a pass. As soon as he exits the room, a very jumpy Ren yanks on his arm in an attempt to make him hurry. Hux does not allow himself to be pulled into a full out run, so the two are reduced to an awkward fast-walk. Ren keeps looking around, as if he was looking out for authority figures, and Hux gets more and more convinced that this ‘something’ is illegal.

“Here. It’s outside.” Ren pushes open a side door, exposing them to the mediocre fall air. He places a large rock in front of the door to keep it from locking them out, then tugs Hux behind the school and towards a very small, secluded area that probably only drug dealers use.

Hux faintly registers a box in the corner, and he suspiciously steps toward it, cautious of its contents. Now it is Ren’s turn to roll his eyes, and he pushes Hux closer, so that he is right in front of it. Hux looks down, only to be greeted with an orange ball of fur.

It mews softly and blinks up at him with intelligent eyes, and Hux sighs. “This is what you were so worried about? It’s a cat. It isn’t that scary.” Ren rolls his eyes at the ginger, and then goes to pet the creature.

“I’m not worried about what it is, I’m worried about what’s going to happen to it. It’s been abandoned, and I don’t know what to do about it. We already have Chewbacca, so I can’t just up and adopt it.” Ren says, running his large hands through the cat’s fur. Hux sighs and crouches next to him, studying the furball’s behaviour.

“Just give it to a pet adoption center. That’s what they’re there for.” Hux says, and almost falls backwards in surprise as Ren glares at him with the ferocity of a thousand stars.

“The little guy doesn’t deserve that kind of life. The pound isn’t a good place for small kittens. Look at it! It’s so tiny!” Ren offers his finger for the cat to play with, and it pounces on it like a chew toy. Hux sighs again, looking at the pure worry and affection on Ren’s face, then looking at the cat, blissfully unaware that the two were making a decision that would affect its life forever.

Well, shit. Hux thinks, and he huffs out a breath before opening his mouth. “I can take it in--”

“Really?! You’d do that?!” Ren’s face is as bright as a thousand Christmas lights, and Hux has to look away to not get blinded. Or blush. Really hard.

“That’s what I said, Ren. I’ll have to keep it mostly in my room though, I’m not sure Father would approve.” Hux ponders. He picks up the cat, cradling it in his arms. “By the way, it’s a female.”

“Really? How do you know?” Ren asks, and Hux doesn’t dignify that with an answer.

 

 

Hux picks up the orange puffball on his way back home; he had chosen to leave her outside during his classes, unwilling to subject her to the wrath of his teachers or risk her escaping and getting caught by an administrator. He’s already named her Millicent, calling her Millie for short. Ren feels that the name is too severe, too serious, but Hux argues that it’s his cat now and he’ll name it whatever he damn well pleases.

Fortunately enough, he manages to slip past everyone, including his family, and reaches the safe haven that is his room. He dumps Millie on the floor, ignoring her indignant looks, as he starts making a makeshift bed for her to sleep on.

_Food,_ Hux thinks. _And water. Probably some toys. What do cats require?_

He pulls out his laptop, scouring over information related to cats. Did she need shots? She probably hadn’t had shots lately, if not her entire life. Shots cost money. A lot of money. Hux doesn’t really think this is a problem, taking money out of his account should be easy enough, but he doesn’t know how he’s going to do it without someone noticing. Especially that large a sum. He could probably reroute his income into cash, or perhaps create a new one under a false name.

Hux reached over to run a hand over Millicent’s head; she had jumped up on the bed to join him. _The things I do for Ren,_ he thinks, exasperated. Oh well. It had made the other boy happy. And Hux only wanted to see him happy.

 

  
The next time Hux goes over to Ren’s house (with Millie in tow), Rey is there. She greets him fairly warmly, saying that Ren is upstairs. Hux does a quick scan of the living room and finds that Finn and Dameron are there as well. Hux is alright with Finn’s presence, but he does not like Dameron. The boy was flippant, carefree, and utterly unstructured. He was disheveled in appearance and in school; he had never turned a single assignment in on time.

(There was also the solid year that Ren had had a crush on him. But Hux would never admit to that being a reason to hold a grudge against him.)

Dameron raises a hand in acknowledgement, eyes focused on the TV screen where he played as a sniper pilot and was currently engaged in combat with a Soviet plane. Really, of all the crude things.

Turning towards the stairs, Hux otherwise ignores the trio and ascends towards Ren’s room. When he opens the door, he sees the other boy stretched out on his bed, doodling something with a sharpie on his jeans. Hux strides over to his bed and sets the carrier down, unlatching it and letting Millie out onto the comforter. Ren starts a bit, then caps his sharpie and turns his attention to the cat. Hux gets a quick glance of whatever’s on Ren’s jeans (a sentence, French, he believes. He doesn’t know any French, though.), but doesn’t get a clear enough picture to see if it actually says anything.

“You sure you’ve been feeding her? She still looks small.” Ren comments, and Hux rolls his eyes.

“Ren, the kitten’s not going to grow after one day of feeding and care. Give her time. She’ll bloom.” Hux fusses with one of Millie’s paws, but draws away once she makes it clear that it is not acceptable. Ren frowns, rubbing his hand on her small stomach.

Suddenly, Rey barrels into Ren’s room, slamming the door open with a stick. She pants briefly, then points the stick at Ren as if she were ready to fight.

“I KNEW it! I knew I heard a ‘meow’! You have a CAT!” Rey grins mischievously, one eyebrow arched high. Ren glares at her, clearly extremely annoyed.

“Yes, Rey, her name is Millicent. And she’s not mine—“

Ren doesn’t get to finish his sentence as Rey pounces on the cat, cuddling her fiercely. “It’s a SHE! She’s BEAUTIFUL!” She buries her face in orange fur, eliciting an irritated meow from Millie. Rey doesn’t appear to care, however; too excited at the sight of the animal.

Hux, however, cares a lot. For some reason, he is getting annoyed on the cat’s behalf. “She’s _my_ cat, and I will not have you manhandling her. Give her back.” Rey pouts, but does put Millie down, to Hux’s relief.

“Well, when you tire her with sarcasm and intellectual conversations, have her give me a call. I’m always up for having a cat around the house.” With that, Rey picks up her stick and makes her grand escape.

“She’s a cat, she doesn’t have thumbs, how would she—“ Hux calls after her in vain, and instead mutters under his breath about illogical nonsense and how he would never let Millie leave him for that cat-woman-to-be.

Ren laughs next to him, and Hux slightly flushes in embarrassment. “Well, it’s true!” He defends, but that only makes Ren laugh more.

Hux ends up staying the night again, and eventually the two of them work their way down to where the trio are perched around the TV and soda. Hux doesn’t socialize much; replies politely, but otherwise keeps his conversations Ren-exclusive. Ren does about the same, engages in conversation from time to time with the others but mostly just talks to Hux. It’s already been established that Ren is terrible at video games no matter how good he says he is, Hux is a noob, and Dameron can squarely kick all of their asses except for Rey, who matches him fairly evenly and are the fiercest team alive.

It’s around 3 am when the group finally settles down to sleep; Rey, Finn, and Dameron in one big dog pile, and Ren, being the clingy bastard that he is, has attached himself to Hux like an octopus. Hux doesn’t _really_ mind, but it’s a little hard for his brain to process at first. He adjusts himself for more comfort, then closes his eyes and steals a little more blanket to bury himself in.

Just before he falls asleep, Hux hears a something whispered. Phonetically, it sounds like “Juh tame”, but Hux figures it was supposed to spelled differently or something. It’s not like he understood it. So he just goes to sleep, listening to Ren’s steady breathing and wrapped in warmth.


	3. short interlude from song lyric chapter titles to bring you rey's birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im never gonna get a chapter out on time am i
> 
> im so sorry

“You’re in love with him, aren’t you.”

Phasma has taken a liking to sitting at the table where Hux and Ren always sit; sitting there ever since the day she and Hux had first met. Since then, the two had been civil to each other, but never particularly close. This was the first personal thing that had come out of her mouth, and even then, it was more of a statement than a question. Hux chokes on a piece of food..

“How did you know?” Hux asks, coughing and slightly disappointed that he hadn’t hidden himself well enough. Luckily, Ren isn’t at the table at the moment; instead arguing with Rey about some sort of project. Phasma snorts, rolling her eyes.

“Are you kidding me? It’s obvious. You’re just lucky he’s an idiot.”

Hux side glances towards Ren, watching him throw a pencil, only to get caught by Rey and thrown back at him. He assesses his options. “I’m assuming you won’t tell him?”

“I’m not that big of an asshole. Even if we don’t know each other very well, I’ve still got your back.” Phasma replies, closing her eyes as she takes a swig from her water bottle.

Eyeing the bottle, Hux raises an eyebrow at her. “...That isn’t water, is it.”

Phasma grins. “Nah. High end vodka. Want a sip?” Hux shakes his head, and Phasma shrugs and takes another gulp. “Suit yourself.”

In Hux’s head, he reasons that it might not be to his loss to be friends with this girl. She was obviously intelligent, and well built enough to intimidate even the bulkiest guys in the entire school. So he steels himself, then turns to Phasma.

“Would you like, officially, to become friends?” He asks, offering a hand to her. Phasma looks at the hand, then at Hux himself, and snickers slightly. Hux’s stomach drops a bit, but then she starts talking.

“I kind of assumed we were at least somewhere on the spectrum. But if you want to make it ‘official’ that’s fine with me.” Phasma took his hand, and the two shook. Hux is honestly relieved; he wouldn’t know what to do if she had refused. He’s fairly sure murder wasn’t an option if he still wanted to go to a good college after high school.

“...You didn’t just make a death pact or something, right?” Ren asks, raising an eyebrow. Hux just looks at him, while Phasma gives him a deadpan “Something like that.” as a reply. Ren rolls his eyes, then flops down at the lunch table only to almost immediately get up again as the bell rings. The three go their separate ways; Hux to AP Biology, Phasma to Weight Training, and Ren to English.

 

“Lieutenant, please advise.”

Mitaka sighs. The two were not even three steps into dissecting this animal when Hux had begun unraveling his problems; something he only ever did when he absolutely positively needed someone to listen.

“I don’t know, General. It’s not like I’ve had much personal experience. I probably would have given up by now. N-Not that--” Mitaka stumbles on his words as Hux throws a sharp glance at him. “Not that that is an option for you. I would consider maybe talking to someone who knows more about Ren himself…?”

Hux shakes his head. He knows where Mitaka is headed with this. “No. I have no intention of alerting Rey to my feelings. Her being so close may yet act against my favor; she’s always around him and is only average at keeping secrets. She is intelligent and experienced, though, and that would definitely help me… hm. I will have to think it over.”

Mitaka nods somewhat vigorously, undoubtedly relieved to get off of the subject. Hux mentally rolls his eyes at this, but makes a note to try not to unload his personal grievances on him too much. The two resume the dissection, making notes along the way.

 

It’s Rey’s birthday. She decides to go to a zombie-themed paintball field in a nearby city; a two-day trip with Finn and Dameron in tow. Ren is also invited; and if Ren is going, then Hux is as well. They all load into Leia’s minivan (Dameron refers to it as the “mom mobile”, which makes most of the company roll their eyes and sigh), and start the two hour drive over.

Hux doesn’t say much on the way; the car’s a little too cramped to have a conversation with Ren that’s actually worth having. Instead, he pulls out a thick book to read and settles himself in a slightly more comfortable position. Ren offers him an earbud, which Hux takes. The music’s quiet, to Hux’s surprise; Ren’s taste had always been loud and ‘edgy’. But he shrugs it off and begins the first chapter.

After a while, Hux glances over to Ren, only to find the boy fast asleep, head against the window. He smiles slightly, and reaches over to turn the music off so Ren’s battery doesn’t run out.

The quietness is short-lived, as not thirty seconds later, Hux is defending Ren’s honor by fending off a certain nuisance armed with a sharpie and determined to draw dicks on the other boy’s face. The struggle quickly raises Ren from the dead, who takes initiative and punches Dameron squarely in the nose. The boy cries out, feeling his nose for any sign of blood. Ren laughs, Hux rolls his eyes (somewhat in sync with Rey, but he won’t acknowledge that), and Finn rushes to make sure the angry Dameron is alright. Leia sighs, and Han turns around and barks at the five to shut up or get out. They all hurriedly settle down, assuming positions to make themselves as small as possible.

When they finally arrive at the hotel, Hux is more than ready to get out of the van and away from the others. Leia passes out key cards; the trio are in one room, Hux and Ren are in the room to the left, and Han and Leia are in the room to the right. Ren seems to be as adamant about getting away from the group as well, bounding up the stairs with Hux close behind.

The door unlocks with a slight beep, and the two rush inside and lay their things on the bed. That’s when Hux realizes. There’s only one bed.

Normally, Hux supposes this wouldn’t bother him, and he’s not sure why it bothers him now. Maybe it’s because they’re basically trapped in that one room, maybe it’s because no one is incredibly close and no one can get in without a key card. Hux is completely alone, with the one person he simultaneously wants and doesn’t want to be trapped with.

He excuses himself, escapes to the hallway to take a few deep breaths to calm himself. He is eighteen, Hux scolds himself. This is nothing to lose composure over. He walks over to the trio’s room, knocking slightly. Hux tells himself that it’s to see if they’ve seen his pen, but he knows it’s just a flimsy excuse to see how they’ve dealt with the bed problem.

When the door opens, Hux doesn’t know why he’s surprised to see that they’ve already stripped the bed down and created a giant dogpile to sleep on. They’ve even taken the mattress off the boxspring. Dameron has somehow smuggled his Xbox in and is currently playing another one of his pilot games. Hux asks if any of them had seen his pen, and Rey, who had answered the door, yells the message back to the two sitting on the mess of sheets. Finn gives a negative, but Dameron picks up a pen sitting next to him and asks if it’s his. When Hux tells him he can’t see it, he has to duck as the boy simply chucks the pen at him. Rey rolls her eyes and apologizes, and Hux takes the pen and leaves, grumbling to himself.

Unlocking the door back to their room, Hux tosses the pen on the bed, then goes over to the office chair at the small desk provided and watches as Ren flips through the channels before landing on some sci-fi movie that Hux doesn’t recognize. Instead of questioning it, he pulls his laptop out of his bag and boots it up, intending to work on an English assignment that he’ll probably get done in a good ten minutes. Hux side-glances to Ren, who is currently scrolling down his phone, looking up every once in a while to pay attention to the movie.

Leia knocks on their door some time later to check in on them, and they both give the thumbs up when she says Rey has requested pizza. The two shuffle over to the others’ room to eat, Hux smirking as Ren gapes at the mess of blankets and pillows.

The pizza disappears fairly quickly, resulting in the five becoming more engrossed in the video game than the food. It’s a new video game called Overwatch, and Hux somehow winds up with the controller. He doesn’t know any of the buttons and is fairly certain that he’ll suck, but he makes the mistake of looking at Ren’s face, silently encouraging him. So Hux sighs and goes through the hero list, landing on a woman who resembles a spider. Widowmaker, Hux notes.

The first few attempts are clumsy and slow; even Hux can tell that Widowmaker was probably made for a much more experienced and talented player. But he steels himself and learns. Eventually, Hux believes himself to be half-decent at the character, specializing in strategy and sniping, which gives him an advantage with the woman. His methods are quick and ruthless, and Hux is actually enjoying himself. When he hands the controller off, Dameron punches him in the shoulder (playfully, the way one would do so in a successful football game) and Ren grins at him. Hux blushes slightly, pleased with himself.

Han comes in to advise them to go to sleep (advising, by Han’s standards, is more like giving orders, and none of the five want to repeat the car incident), so Ren and Hux wander back into their room. Ren takes the shower first, leaving Hux with little to do besides mess around on his computer or aimlessly flip through channels on the TV. He chooses to do the latter, and when Ren comes out of the shower, he passes the remote to him and gathers his sleeping clothes to take with him.

Hux stares at the shower wall under the spray of water for about five minutes before making any move to do anything. Even though he’s done close to nothing today, he’s exhausted. It takes him a lot of effort to move his body to wash himself, and during that he ponders. Nothing that he ponders is really important; in fact, new strategies for Widowmaker flit into his head every now and then.

Once Hux believes he is sufficiently clean, he steps out of the bath to dry and dress himself, then returns to the room to find Ren is supposedly asleep and all of the lights are off except for a small bedside lamp. Hux slips gently into the bed next to the other boy, clicking off the lamp. In the dark, Hux traces the general silhouette of Ren’s face with his eyes, and against his better judgement, stretches his arm out to find Ren’s under the sheets.

When Hux’s hand touches Ren’s (more obviously than he would have liked, Hux mentally flinches), Ren suddenly jumps and looks at him, and Hux snatches his hand back. 

“Shit.”Hux says under his breath, heart going as fast as a hummingbird’s and brain racing at a hundred miles a minute. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.” If Ren could see his face, he’d probably be as white as a ghost. His mind is shouting at him to escape, but Hux can’t move.

“Hux. Hux! Calm down. You just startled me. Here.” Ren reaches out and pulls the boy closer, so that Hux’s head is on Ren’s chest. 

_Oh no. Oh FUCK._ Hux’s face heats up and he feels like he’s going to have a heart attack. His breathing goes in and out in short pants, drawing closer and closer to a panic attack. Ren seems to notice this, and puts a hand on Hux’s head, starting to comb through his hair. Hux slowly starts to calm down, relaxing into Ren’s hold and hesitantly wraps an arm back around him.

“Just warn a brother next time, alright? I thought Poe came in here to play a prank or something.” Ren says, muffled by Hux’s hair. Hux nods his head slightly, and listens to Ren’s heartbeat until his breath evens out and he falls asleep.


	4. rey's birthday pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> paintball is a fun sport; unfortunately, the universe said "fuck you personally" to hux.

The next day, the group drives out to the paintball field. Since there are an odd amount of players and no way to evenly distribute skill, it is decided that they will all be in a free-for-all (but there’s no question who will team up with who).

Hux is immensely grateful that he will not be all alone; he is almost positive that Ren will have his back. Almost. There’s a small part of him that tells him that he cannot trust anyone but himself. That he should defend himself and only himself, for others will only stab him in the back.

He shakes it off, scolding himself mentally for thinking that sort of thing. But that part doesn’t quiet permanently, so all he can do is try to ignore it and swallow down his fear.

The field is very large, large enough for a group of a good ten or fifteen more players than the five that are using it. There are plenty of trees, and Hux immediately starts sizing up his hiding places, aiming for high branches or tall bushes that will give him enough cover to disappear. Ren must be able to feel the anxiety (it’s coming off of him in waves) and puts a hand on his shoulder, giving him a toothy grin and a silent promise. Hux is relaxes a bit, and sets his sights forward into the terrain in front of him.

A shrill whistle marks the beginning of the game, and the five shoot off into the trees. Hux sprints for a tree on the edge of the area, Ren following behind like a large wolf. Hux doesn’t stop when he reaches his destination, instead he slings the gun behind him, jumping up to the first few branches while earning a boost from Ren. He settles himself amongst the leaves, then looks down at the dark-haired boy questioningly.

“It’s ok,” Ren whispers. “I do my best work on the ground anyway.”

Hux watches him as he slinks back into the underbrush, waving off anxiety like smoke. _He’s making his move,_ the voice in his head says. _He’s getting out of your line of sight, just to shoot you out of your hiding spot. You aren’t safe here. You aren’t safe with anyone knowing where you are. Take him out before he takes you._

_No!_ Hux yells at the voice, fighting himself. _Ren would never. You know nothing. Go away! I don’t need you._

_Fine,_ the voice, his _father_ , hisses. _But don’t be crawling back when he betrays you, boy._

Hux takes a minute to catch his breath, pressing his forehead against the branch in front of him. He clutches the paintball gun to his chest, hoping that it will give him some form of safety or reassurance. When he calms himself, Hux hurriedly shifts his position so that he cannot be seen through the branches.

_Ren would not do that. You are being stupid. Get ahold of yourself!_ He slaps himself on the wrist, then presses his eye against the scope of the gun.

For a good five minutes, there is nothing. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Hux sees a bush move and he sees Dameron creeping up from the underbrush. Hux shifts the barrel of his gun, lining up the shot, then pulls the trigger.

The gun goes off with a loud bang, and Hux jolts as the force of the bullet pushes the gun back on his shoulder. He curses to himself, wishing desperately that the gun had a silencer. But the bullet did its job, splattering purple paint all over the front of Dameron’s protective vest.

“Ah, shit-- in the trees! Scatter!” Dameron yells, wheezing slightly. The bullet, while packing enough punch to bruise, has not quite put him out of play; Hux needs to hit him a second time before he’s officially ‘dead.’ He lines up the shot again, but before he can shoot, a gun goes off behind him and he panics.

His eyes dart wildly behind him, as the voice, his father’s voice, starts to grow louder and louder in his head, shouting at him to take the shot, save himself, leave Ren behind, self before others. Hux’s breath comes in short heaves and he tugs the gun back to his chest, laying in the tree with his eyes closed, wishing frantically that he could see Ren, confirm that the other boy is alright. More gunshots do nothing to lessen his anxiety, and he feels it pushing itself up his throat to drown him.

“Hux! HUX! On your left!”

Hux’s eyes shoot open, and he rolls to the right just in time as a paintball shoots past him and makes a loud cracking noise as it hits the branch by his head. He can’t see Ren, but he heard the boy’s voice, and with a shaky nod, Hux grips the barrel of the gun and steels himself. Another bullet sails through the air and hits Hux squarely in the leg, and he lets out a long breath as he swivels his gun over and blindly fires at his assailant. A few ‘ow!’s follow, and Hux smiles to himself, satisfied that he has taken out the opponent. Dameron curses again, underneath him, followed by a wave of splats and a groan. Hux looks through the grass and bushes, and Ren stands up slightly to wave at him, shooting him another grin and forming his hand into a thumbs up.

Letting out a long sigh of relief, Hux feels the anxiety slowly start to drain from his features as he makes a thumbs up as well. He looks up, slinging his gun back so he can climb higher into the leaves and branches. It’s not much higher, but the extra cover calms him. Hux brushes aside a few leaves, poking his gun through the hole and scoping out the area. He can see Rey army-crawling through the brush, but she’s out of range of Hux’s gun. He turns to look back at Ren, whistling to get his attention, and motions forward to warn him. Ren nods, then gets low on the ground and starts to crawl away from Hux.

_He’s making his move. This is it. He’s betraying you. He will go up and meet the girl, and they will team up on you. You will be alone. You are alone. Escape while you can._ His father’s voice whispers in his ear, and Hux swats at it as if it were a mosquito.

_No, I’m not. You are just afraid. Never had a real friend. I will show you._ Hux thinks, and he gets into a squatting position in the tree, points his gun at Rey (who has now crawled her way into his range) and pulls the trigger. She falls with a grunt, and Hux watches as Ren appears out of the bushes, delivering the final shot to put her out of play. Rey shouts a curse at him, then punches him in the arm and walks over to the No-Fire Zone, where she sits down on the dirt and waits for the game to end, paint splatters in her hair and all over her arms and clothing.

Hux watches bushes move as Ren makes his way back to Hux’s tree, smiling to himself.

He doesn’t notice as Finn stands up in the bushes, lines up his shot, and fires.

The shot hits him with enough force in the chest to knock him backwards, and his brain goes blank as he registers that he’s falling, out of the tree and down to the ground about twelve feet below. There’s a shout, and Hux vaguely recognizes Ren barreling through the bushes to him, before he lands spread-eagle on the ground, air whooshing out of his lungs and pain shooting everywhere. He sees stars for a few seconds before blinking them away, only to be replaced with Ren’s panicked face.

The ground is somewhat soft under his fingertips, Hux thinks, brain in a slight daze. He focuses on Ren, who’s furiously checking over him for broken bones. Hux almost smiles to himself, before realizing he cannot breathe. He reaches out to Ren, eyes wild and moving his mouth desperately for air. Ren takes his hand, realizing the problem, and tells him to just calm down and relax as Leia and Han race up to see if Hux is alright. Hux shoots Ren a dirty look (“Just calm down, what the fuck do you think I’m trying to do?! Except that I can’t breathe!”), but regains the ability to breathe again after a minute, taking long breaths as Leia feels around again, rechecking for anything broken, then declares Hux as ‘probably concussed’ and walks him to the car. She sits him down with a drink and an ice pack, refusing to let him continue to play. Ren sits down beside him like a dog, watching the field for any signs of danger and declining any offer to leave. Hux is grateful, leaning on the other boy for support as the pain in his back slowly subsides.

Finn comes by, apologizing profusely over and over, not stopping until Hux interrupts and reassures him that he’s quite alright and no permanent damage was done. Finn flushes, but apologizes once more and races off as Hux rolls his eyes.

The game is quite fun to watch, Hux realizes, when you aren’t playing in it. Dameron and Rey battle furiously, their shots quick and precise. Finn is not bad, but he’s definitely not up to Dameron and Rey’s level. The game goes on for a good ten minutes, before Dameron makes a fatal mistake and shields Finn from Rey’s bullets, ‘killing’ him and leaving Rey to make short work of Finn, effectively winning.

Everyone is covered in paint; Hux has the least, and both Dameron and Rey have the most by far. As soon as the group parks in the parking lot of the hotel, Leia and Han shoo them off towards the showers, threatening to throw them in the pool themselves. The five make their way up the stairs towards their rooms, and Hux shoves Ren into the shower first, claiming that at least he’ll make less of a mess of the bedspread.

Hux sheds his shirt, releasing his wounds from the clingy fabric. He puts a few Band-Aids on his arms and legs, but knows that he will probably have to ask Ren for help with his back. After he cleans himself up, of course.

So he sits on the bed, bored, only somewhat paying attention to the station the TV is on. Ren gets out of the shower, and Hux takes a towel and wraps it around his shoulders, unwilling to show him his injuries. Ren makes no comment about this, so he shuts the bathroom door behind him and locks it, dumping his towel on the shelf above the toilet.

The warm water feels good against his back, but any motion to try and wash there is met with protests from Hux’s muscles and skin. He eventually gives up, and hopes the water will be enough to clean any cuts or abrasions. He scrubs the paint from his arms, legs, face, and hair, and when satisfied, he shuts off the water and steps out into the steam-filled room. Hux reaches over to flick the fan on, dispersing the cloudy air, and sets about getting dressed (but not bothering with a shirt) and dries his hair so that it falls in parted soft ginger locks across his head.

Hux unlocks the door, carrying a small first aid kit. He approaches Ren and offers it to him, who accepts it and starts to patch himself up.

“If you could get my back, when I’m done…?” Hux asks, and Ren nods, sliding backwards on the bed and motioning for Hux to sit down in front of him.

Ren whistles in disbelief and surprise when he sees Hux’s back, who scoffs and rolls his eyes. 

“Really did a number on your back, didn’t ya?”

“Well, falling out of a tree certainly didn’t help any of my injuries,” Hux mutters sarcastically, and Ren smirks. Hux focuses on the TV while the other boy’s hands clean and bandage the cuts and bruises, wincing every once in a while when Ren presses too hard or is a little too rough. 

“It’s like a big, dark storm,” Ren muses, dabbing a bit of antibacterial cream on a cut. Hux looks at him like he’d just spit out something outrageous, and Ren laughs softly. “Your back,” He elaborates, sliding his hand around Hux’s back as if Hux could see what he was talking about. “It’s a big sky of angry purple clouds, like you had some sort of storm brewing inside and it pushed upwards, onto your skin.”

“That’s rather poetic,” Hux says, somewhere between sarcasm and sincerity. “Are you sure this isn’t just your artist brain making the mess that is my back look somewhat better?” _You have no idea of what kind of fight I’ve been through._

Ren laughs. “Maybe, but I doubt it. Although, I could always call in a second opinion.” Hux shakes his head.

_A storm, huh…_ Hux thinks. _Interesting._

The dark-haired boy takes the remote and turns off the TV, leaving the only source of light as the light from the street outside and from underneath the hotel door. It’s enough for Hux to see his silhouette move back on the bed and under the covers, and he follows suit, laying on his side. Ren moves close enough to him so that Hux can feel his presence, but far enough so that he doesn’t aggravate the ginger’s back. 

There’s a long sigh, and then Ren’s voice is heard out of the darkness. “Good fight and good night, General.”

“Good fight and good night.”


	5. why i borrow your lipstick so often

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phasma intervenes like the good mom she is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am back my friends!! i've got a few things to say, so please read them!!
> 
> -updates will be every other week! i'm not quite done with this fic so i need time to both do my homework (highschool amiright) and to write more chapters!!  
> -this chapter is dedicated to rylie, one of my very best friends in the world who doesn't deserve anything bad and i love her
> 
>  
> 
> why i love her  
> -shes funny and nice and shes always there when i need her and i love listening to her and talking with her and honestly she makes all of my days feel better and shes stuck with me all these years even when i didnt deserve it and shes so selfless and always thinks of others and shes so cool and i dont deserve her but i wouldn't trade her for anyone else in the world!! she doesn't deserve any slander and i'm sorry for anything that i've said or done and i promise i didn't mean it i made a horrible gamble because i assumed for some stupid reason that she wouldn't care about it and i'm so sorry. i love you so much and i never wanted to hurt you ever

Late fall brings cold days, cold enough to keep a jacket on one’s person at all times. This is how Hux operates for the months of September and October, carrying his jacket to all of his classrooms, hanging on his messenger bag. He has long dismissed the notion of a locker, unfortunately being more forgetful than he would ever like to admit.

Phasma and he had become good friends at this point; Hux finds himself time after time waiting on the bleachers for her during her football practises, often accompanied by Ren or even Mitaka. Curiously, he has, on more than one occasion, seen Rey ghosting around the bleachers as well, watching the practises while reading or writing. They never interact, but Hux is sure that she at least knows that he is aware of her appearances.

On one afternoon, Hux is alone; Ren has been called away for a family event, so Hux sits by himself until Phasma finishes up. Once she approaches, Hux expects just the usual--- going to one of their houses and studying and then talking. Instead, today Phasma starts with the talking, even before they even get into her car.

“So,” Phasma starts. “Have you made any progress with Edgelord McEmo?”

“While that may be accurate, don’t call him that. It’s tasteless. Anyway, no. Haven’t done a whole lot. Unless you count ‘being the designated cuddle buddy’ at sleepovers.” Hux replies, packing away his notebook.

“It’s something, at least.” Phasma pauses for a minute to blow a ridiculously large pink bubble with her bubblegum, somehow making it pop without going absolutely everywhere. “Hmm. Ever thought about studying together? Isn’t he horrible at math or something?”

Hux rolled his eyes. “He may be bad at math, but he’s an even worse study partner. Won’t sit still for anything and he can’t focus. I honestly don’t know how he’s keeping himself afloat these days. I do help with the math sometimes though, when he comes to me about it.”

Phasma nods her head, apparently thinking over it. Hux follows her to her car, and they drive over to Phasma’s house. Her parents greet Hux warmly, offering drinks or snacks. Hux declines both, but Phasma grabs a soda can and the two head upstairs to her room. They both settle on Phasma’s bed, pulling out textbooks and whatnot to study.

It’s quiet for a while, but Hux shouldn’t have expected Phasma to completely drop the Ren situation.

“Here. I’ve got an idea,” Phasma says, snapping Hux out of study mode. He looks at her quizzically, and she pulls a pile of football tickets out of her bag. “Don’t tell anyone. I was supposed to try and sell these. It’ll be fine. Anyway, invite him to our next football game. It’s supposed to be a doozy; the Millennium Falcons versus the Starkillers. Basically the next chapter in the ‘Star Wars’ football saga. Give him the ticket, show up, have a good time. All goes well, you’ll end up under the bleachers doing who knows what.”

Hux blushes bright red at these words, and Phasma starts laughing so hard her laughter turns to wheezing in a matter of seconds.

“I don’t expect you to have sex for God’s sake! I’m just sayin’, this is a good opportunity for you. Get nice and cozy with your emo prince.” Phasma says, wiping tears from her eyes. Hux scoffs, color fading from his cheeks.

“I’ll take the tickets. Besides, you’ll stop laughing when you have to babysit the kids.”

“Oooh, kids! You plan on having kids with this guy? Already planning ahead!”

“Shut up!”

 

  
Giving Ren a simple football ticket seemed to be a much harder task than Hux had first imagined. He had tried, Lord, had he tried, but he couldn’t seem to make his stupid voice and stupid hand work.

‘Maybe it just sounds too much like a date.’ Hux reasons with himself, and tries phrasing it differently.

‘Hey, Ren. I managed to get these football tickets to the next game. Wanna go with me?’

‘Ren. Phasma gave me these tickets. Might as well use them.’

‘Phasma wants me to go to her next game. As my friend, you’re required to come.’

Hux clutches the tickets in his hands, staring at them while going through thousands of different ways to ask Ren to go to this game. He can feel color rising to his face as he gets angrier with every answer; everything just sounds too romantic! How was he supposed to do this?! He’d never done anything like this before!

He’s about to rip the damn tickets to shreds when a large hand descends into his field of view, taking the paper out of his hands.

“Football tickets, huh? Phasma give you these?” Ren asks, inspecting them. Hux nods, trying to appear as disinterested as possible. “Hey, might be fun. You free on this day?”

“Wait. You actually want to go to a public school event? Who are you and what have you done with Ren?” Hux asks, trying to make himself as cool and collected as possible. Ren simply shrugs, handing him one of the tickets.

“I don’t know. I think it might be fun. Especially if you’re there with me to make fun of the mascot.” Ren says, and Hux struggles to keep his face blank and uninterested, fighting down a blush. “Anyway, will you want a ride or will you already be at school late on this day?”

Hux racks his brain, trying to think of anything that was already happening on that date. Finding nothing, he simply tells Ren to give him a ride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the day comes, Hux worries.

Hux worries a lot, in fact, but this particular event causes anxiety the likes of which had never been seen.

He worries about being completely see-through; that Ren will see past all of the ‘friend’ pretenses and find the whole thing repulsive. He worries that he will be left all alone again. Even as he gets prepared for Ren to pick him up, he almost dreads going to this event.

But then again, Hux tells himself, he’s always been rather good at putting on a facade. He did it before Ren came, and it was probable that he would do it again in the future. He supposed he had a chance.

Hux stops himself before he starts thinking in-depth about the future; it’s a slippery slope to go down and he will not let himself be thrown into a full-fledged panic attack.

A familiar car horn sounds in the driveway, and Hux hurries down the stairs, hoping to avoid any contact with his parents. Fortune is not on his side, however, as he manages to be seen by his father.

“Where are you going, boy?” Brendol Hux growls, obviously somewhat annoyed to hear an obnoxious car horn at 6:30 at night, especially coming from a car whose owner was less than savory in his opinion. Hux internally flinched, but he kept his voice steady.

“I’m going to the football game tonight. I already notified you. Check your phone if you don’t believe me. I’ll probably be back around 9.”

Brendol emits a scoff. “Fooling around and otherwise useless activities will get you nowhere in your academic career. You should be studying for exams, not frolicking around like one of those dreamless, deadend boys who will never amount to anything.”

Hux sighs, then continues towards the front door. “I’m not going to argue with you on this, Father, but you cannot expect me to interact with other human beings if I don’t know how. Excuse me.” Hux slips out the door and down the concrete stairs to where Ren’s car is waiting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The football stadium is large and loud and packed with people, and Hux can feel his anxiety levels rising steadily as they continue to walk towards their seats. Phasma, bless her heart, had already calculated just exactly where Hux would feel most comfortable sitting; higher up with a good view of where everything was, and a less thick crowd hanging around the two, making it quieter and at least stalling Hux getting overstimulated. Hux makes a mental note to thank her for her insight, while Ren attempts to slide through the crowd carrying a huge pile of food that he had bought from the concession stand.

The duo settle down, Ren immediately digging into whatever loot he had acquired. Hux is only half paying attention to the teams as they march onto the field, but he claps for Phasma as she makes her way on the front lines as the captain. Ren hollers for her, and she tips an imaginary hat in the direction of their seats. Hux can practically feel about ten girls faint as Phasma blows a kiss to the stands, and waits patiently for a second before about fifteen boys to drop as well. Hux smirks to himself, imagining the smug look on her face.

The game seems brutal to Hux; he can only imagine the sort of strength it would take to play. The home team obviously has the better strategy, working together like a well oiled machine. Hux can appreciate this, since there are no unnecessary moves and everything flows nicely. He sees no way that the visiting team can win; they’re pathetically uncoordinated and sloppy. Hux glances over to Ren, who’s practically on the edge of his seat, cheering every so often for Phasma as she continues to make astounding plays. Hux smiles to himself, then leans back and lets his mind wander while letting his eyes vaguely follow the players on the field.

He shivers a bit, noticing the bite of the wind for once. He wishes he had brought a jacket; he had forgotten in an effort to get out of the house.

But it seems like he hadn’t needed to; Ren’s jacket settles on his shoulders as he stands up to cheer louder. Hux smiles at the boy, and snuggles into the soft material.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hux wrinkles his nose and the amount of trash left on the bleachers after the game. He knows that he shouldn’t expect tidiness from high schoolers, but really. They couldn’t at least throw garbage away in the trashcan ten feet from the seats. Hux represses a sigh as he picks up another abandoned wrapper on his way out from the stands, and eventually Ren pulls him away so Hux doesn’t end up staying the whole night just to pick up trash.

Phasma greets the two with a victorious smile, making several ridiculous motions with her arms to show off her “guns.” Ren joins her, and Hux can’t help but laugh at them, both making silly faces and puffing out their chests.

One of Phasma’s teammates calls out to her from the locker room, asking if she’d like to go out drinking and partying with them. Phasma bellows out a “hell yeah!” and turns towards Hux and Ren in a silent question. Hux waves her off, politely refusing, but Ren throws his arms up excitedly. He looks to Hux, as if asking if he’ll be okay.

“It’s fine.” Hux says quietly. “Go ahead.” Ren smiles at him, giving his car keys to Hux and pinky promising him that he won’t do anything stupid. Hux agrees to drive Ren’s car to his house the following morning, and with that, he’s alone in the parking lot with three keys and a stupid little toy keychain of some sort of mask that’s obviously homemade.

He’s out of the car and in his room before he realizes that he still has Ren’s jacket, but he doesn’t think for even a split second of giving it back. Ren probably didn’t even realize that Hux still had it, racing off to go get wildly drunk.

Hux tries not to think about it too much, but he can feel the self-doubt and anxiety creeping up on him. He’s too tired to take a shower at this point in the night, and instead decides to curl up in his bed, holding tight to Ren’s jacket and desperately trying to imagine that it’s the real thing.


	6. we'll get back to song lyrics i swear, but have some halloween instead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween month is here! And with a Jenny chapter to match!
> 
> Sorry it's a little late, AP is really kicking my ass. :P

Hux isn’t surprised when Ren shows up to school in a ridiculous suit of armor, swinging around a glowing red saber and stalking down the hallways. He doesn’t even ask why, because he knows exactly what it’s for and exactly how long Ren has been working on it.

He just didn’t expect how quickly he’d be done.

Even in his “knight” costume (as he had put it), Ren did not really stand out a whole lot from the rest of the school; most were also donned in masks and costumes that ranged from cute to silly to legitimately haunting. Hux supposes he shouldn’t have expected anything else from a public school on the day of Halloween.

Hux didn’t have a costume, nor did he intend to make one. He had planned Halloween to just be another day, unless Ren wanted to watch scary movies or something at the Solo-Organa household. Halloween had always left a poor taste in Hux’s mouth; memories of a young Hux attempting to Trick-or-Treat, getting his candy stolen and his costume destroyed by the neighborhood menaces, and coming home to a father who did nothing but scold him for not being able to fight back.

Ren didn’t know this, and Hux had no intention of telling him. Most holidays were like this, just Hux making snide statements about how Halloween was useless and he could be using the time to get the essay from class done, which, might he remind Ren, was due the next class period after Halloween and since Ren had not even started, he could use this time wisely instead of making silly costumes and scaring young children.

But Ren would laugh off his lecturing tone (and well-hidden concern) and insist that a missed assignment wouldn’t kill him and the teacher loved him anyway, which Hux begrudgingly admitted to be true.

Unfortunately, this Halloween harbored a special surprise for Hux, but until Ren bounded up to him in the hallways he was blissfully unaware.

~~~~~

“A Halloween party? Ren, do you have any idea of how terribly that will go for me?” Hux asks incredulously. He shakes his head as he says this, emphasizing how bad the idea was. “I’m an introverted member of the debate team, straight A’s, no experience with drugs or any other form of intoxicant. I’ll be an outcast at best, and I don’t like to think of the worst.”

“Hux, I promise it’ll be fun. There probably won’t be anyone there that you don’t know, and you’ll have me! I said I would go with Rey, and you know how she gets when I break a promise. We only have to stay for an hour or so, but I don’t want to go by myself. Please? Please, Hux?” Ren wields his best puppy eyes, and Hux can feel his face start to heat as he desperately turns away to prevent Ren from seeing. Ren seems to take this as exasperation (somehow) and makes an even pout-ier face, until Hux’s resolve crumbles and he nods his head in defeat.

“Fine. Only an hour though, and no more. I expect you to make this up to me.” Hux says, and Ren beams a smile as large as the sun at him. 

“A Halloween party?” Plasma asks as she approaches the two. “Don't you think that's a little iffy for Hux? He hates this sort of thing.”

“It's alright, Phasma, he already agreed. Besides, it won't be for that long and we can just stand in the corner or something.”

Phasma makes a noise of skepticism, but approves it, after getting the destination out of Ren and promising to be there too; “to keep you crazy kids out of trouble,” as she puts it. Hux merely wonders how he’s going to get a costume within 6 hours.

~~~~~

 

With three hours to go, Hux gives up on costumes. He hates them anyway, dressing up as another had always seemed pointless and uncomfortable. What were you going to use the costume for after Halloween, anyway? Unless you planned to use it for the next year, it became totally useless.

Instead, Hux roots around in his closet for one of Ren’s shirts, pulling one out that had an image of a ribcage on it, presumingly to go over where his ribcage was in his actual body. It was close enough, Hux decides, and pulls it on. It hangs loosely on his frame; Ren had an obscenely tall and lanky form, and the shirt was supposed to be somewhat large on him.

Nevertheless, Hux will make it work, even if he has to tie a knot in the back and roll it up into the shirt so it doesn’t look quite so baggy. He doesn’t make any other changes to his outfit besides swapping out his khakis for a pair of black pants, making sure everything looks “Halloween-y” enough. His father isn’t in the house at the moment, so he just sends a text and turns off his phone, hoping that he’s busy enough not to notice or care.

Ren’s car pulls up around 9, and Hux can see that Ren’s trying to contain a grin as he sees the large shirt on his slight frame. Hux only shoots him an indignant look and climbs into the passenger seat, and Ren begins to drive through neighborhoods Hux has never seen, taking about ten minutes to reach their destination.

They approach the house very different ways; Ren pushes forward gallantly as if there were none who could stand in his path. Hux walks up slowly, warily, as if he were a hunter making sure his prey was truly dead.

There are a mass of cars parked in either the driveway, front lawn, or all down the street; and inside, there’s about ten times as many people. Hux supposes many of them have carpooled, allowing for them to get into the house while weaving between vehicles on the front lawn. He recognizes some of the bodies there, but it’s hard to tell who’s who with all of the costumes and masks, as well as the fact that they’re all moving in rhythm to music that shakes Hux down to his bones.

Ren leads him through the densely packed room, towards a small group consisting of Rey, wearing some sort of scavenging outfit; Finn, who’s decked out in white armor; and Dameron, dressed as some sort of fighter pilot. There’s a very tall figure behind them wearing a form of commander’s outfit, and when they turn towards the group Hux can see that it’s Phasma. The four look somewhat awkward together, but soon the tension lets up and they begin to socialize and flow with the rest of the party-goers.

Hux stays as close to the wall as he can, declining any drink offers and trying to make himself invisible. He’s lost Ren, unless it’s the other way around, but he can’t muster up the energy to go find him. Phasma’s also nowhere to be found, which almost surprises him, given her height. He checks his phone almost obsessively, trying to make the time go by as fast as possible.

An hour passes. Ren isn't in the crowd anymore, but it's not like he can really see the whole of the room anyway. He hopes that Ren will have realized the time by now or at least soon, but as the minutes keep ticking, he slowly loses that hope.

He's not good enough friends with Rey to bother her about her cousin, he's half convinced she doesn’t like him anyway. Dameron’s probably off winning beer pong somewhere, and Finn’s probably watching and cheering him on. He can't find Phasma, and he’s not sure how much more of this party he can take. He stays near the wall, never letting his hand off of it for fear of being swept away by the sea of people.

Eventually, the crowd’s too much for him; too loud, too big, and too utterly chaotic. He inches his way towards the stairwell, hoping to find some sort of respite up the stairs and perhaps in the bathroom or something. He doesn’t realize that he’s shaking, and almost falls down the stairs halfway up when his knees almost give out.

Hux reaches for the first door he sees, even though his conscience is blaring at him, warning him about all the horrors of a teenaged party, especially on Halloween. He pushes the thoughts to the back of his mind, twisting the handle and sliding it open.

He wasn’t ready to see the inside, but he does anyway.

Ren’s massively drunk, wobbling on his own feet. If there’s anything Hux can remember from past experience, it’s that Ren isn’t a sleepy drunk; instead, a terrible smooth-talker and very susceptible. There are two girls there, and each are pushing him towards the bed, despite Ren’s very weak struggles. Hux doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath until he feels like he’s drowning, and even then, all he can do is gape.

Suddenly, Phasma is there and pushing him aside, marching up to the two girls before yanking them away, pushing one towards the wall and the other towards a tall dresser. The girls start to shout at Phasma, shoving at her and cursing. Phasma swings Ren towards Hux, and he grabs the dark-haired boy by the wrist, pulling him closer.

“Go. I’ll deal with this.” Phasma says in a dark, dangerous voice, and Hux tugs Ren as quickly as he can down the stairs, dodging and weaving through the masses until the two of them are successfully out the door.

Once out of danger, Hux immediately lets go of Ren’s hand, eyes full of tears and shaking like a leaf. He brings his hand up to his face, only to bring them away wet. He stares at the ground until his composure shatters and he’s crying in full force, quiet gulps and tears spilling down his cheeks like a waterfall.

He feels Ren’s hand on his arm, and he yanks it off, stepping away from the other boy.

“H-Hux, what’s… what’s wrong?” Ren stutters and slurs a little, eyes big and glossy from the alcohol.

“It’s so hard, Ren.” Hux’s voice breaks in the middle of the statement, but he doesn’t stop. “I keep, keep trying to push everything down and I want to talk to you so badly but I know that it won’t end well and it’s so hard. I can’t keep myself from feeling things and doing things and misinterpreting everything and overthinking and overanalyzing and I really just wish it would stop. Or maybe something else to begin. But you keep fucking with my head and my chest and I really really want to just kiss you or something but I know that you’re not interested and I don’t even know if you really even consider me a friend and I just- I just-”

“Hux.”

Hux startles out of his rant session, and turns to Ren, who looks almost peaceful.

“Sober me’s an idiot.”

Hux snorts unintentionally, and wipes his eyes on his shirt.

“W-why’s that?”

“Well, first off, he drank even though he’s the one driving.” Ren says this completely coherent somehow, and Hux starts laughing despite himself.

“I can drive, Ren.” Hux says, rolling his eyes. 

“That makes one of us. Anyway, this is more important for me to say.” Ren looks at Hux seriously, and Hux can’t find it in him to break eye contact.

Ren opens his mouth as if to say something,

And abruptly throws up all over the ground in front of him, eliciting a groan from Hux as the mix splatters on his shoes.

Hux ends up helping Ren into his car, almost forcibly taking the keys from him and driving back to the Solo-Organa household, stumbling inside as he supports Ren’s weight. Neither of his parents are awake, so Hux shushes Ren and tiptoes up the stairs to his room. Fortunately, Ren seems like he’s winding down, and once Hux gets him in the bed, it isn’t long before the other’s out like a light. 

Hux doesn’t want to go home, but he doesn't really want to be around Ren at the moment either. Instead, he bundles up a few blankets and things from Ren’s room and carries them down to the living room, setting up a makeshift bed on the couch before lying down and passing out.


	7. i am so sorry

update y'all.

here's the deal: i actually physically cannot finish this fic.

i'm so sorry. i was so into it and i wanted to keep going for you guys but i really just can't. between all my classes and projects and personal problems and everything going on i just have no time or energy to put into this, and i don't ever want to have to post a half-assed chapter. i can't keep making excuses, too.

if someone wants to take this up, please contact me at my kylux blog [here](snrksrlyhard.tumblr.com), leave a message, anything. if i don't have someone else on this fic by the 28th, i will be releasing all of my notes and timelines and unfinished snippets.

thank you. all of you who read, left kudos, comments. thank you for taking the time to read this fic and your kind words. thank you for sticking with me through all this time, even with all my personal bullshit and schoolwork and everything. i'm so sorry it had to end like this. i'm sorry that the best i can give you is my notes. you all are wonderful.

once again, i'm so sorry for this. if you're interested in taking up the mantle on this one, please let me know.

thus, i sign off this fic for the final time. thank you for reading.

ryan <3


	8. snippets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> first half of notes!

Suddenly Hux looks around the room and he realizes that a lot of things are not his.

Ren’s shirt is hanging on his chair. The one that Hux stole a few weeks ago is being used as a pillowcase. One of Ren’s sharpie-covered notebooks is still laying on his dresser; Ren had given it to him so he could see some of Ren’s artworks. The notebook is well-loved and dogeared, used so thoroughly by Ren that you’d think it would fall apart if you so much as touched the cover.

Hux had spent days going over every single drawing, every stroke of sharpie or pen or pencil on those lined sheets. He was still only about a fifth through.

Countless pens that Ren had lent to Hux and Hux never returned were scattered in the room, most bunched together in a jar.

Hux still had Ren’s jacket; it swayed on its hook as Hux ran a hand down the fabric.

Hell, even as Hux played a song on his iPhone it reminds him of Ren because all he has on his phone are songs that Ren had made him listen to and Hux had immediately downloaded.

 

Ren gets up in the morning grumbling slightly and rubbing his eyes, and Hux could honestly die. Ren’s hair is a mess (more than it usually is) and he’s got bags under his eyes but Hux doesn’t think he’s ever seen Ren more beautiful.

Ren stands up and mumbles something about a “must’ve left his shirt in the bathroom” and shuffles off. Hux smiles to himself as he pushes the missing article of clothing further under his bed.

 

“It’s fucking cold.” Hux complains, shivering. He didn’t bring a jacket today, it had been in the sixties earlier.

“Poor Huxy, all chilled to the bone.” Ren teases, and Hux makes a face at him. “Here.”

“Wha-” A large pile of cloth is shoved over Hux’s head, and Ren laughs as he struggles for a moment. Hux finally gets his arms through the sleeves and finds himself to be surrounded by a soft, warm, rather large sweatshirt. And it smells like Ren. Of course. Hux is just happy that the cold pinkened his cheeks enough to hide the blush creeping up.

“There. All better.” Ren says, then gives Hux a toothy grin. Hux looks away.

“I hope you weren’t expecting this back.”

“Of course not.”. 

 

Prom rolls around. Hux and Ren go together. As friends.

They stand near the back of the gym, not dancing or anything, just kind of lounging about with punch in their hands and Hux glancing at Ren every now and then.

They’re both wearing suits; Hux awkwardly tugs at his collar, feeling not great and probably sweating. He doesn’t think it’s fair, how suave Ren looks in dark colors with his hair pulled back into a somewhat neat ponytail.

Ren waves at a few people that Hux doesn’t know, and Hux is having his doubts about even coming out of the house today. Maybe it would have been better if he was at home, away from Ren and not thinking about how fucking good he looks and how much Hux really wants to kiss him.

But wait. Hux still has Ren’s shirt. And his sweatshirt. He is never safe. Maybe he should quarantine his room.

“Why are you still here?”

Ren looks at Hux like he’d just spouted a curse on his mother’s grave.

“What?”

“Why are you still here? You look like you’d have much more fun out there, with them. Dancing.”

Ren laughs slightly. “You’d never guess by how incredibly fantastic I look, but I can’t dance for shit.”

“Oh.” Hux replies.

“Besides,” Ren adds, “I’m not a huge fan of crowds. Even though I seem more social, I guess.”

Hux doesn’t really know what to think about that.

 

 

It’s two in the morning. They are at McDonald’s. (Hux slides into a booth and pulls his knees up to his chest. Ren follows and leans his weight onto Hux?) Ren tiredly takes a bite out of his ice cream cone. Hux flinches.

“How do you even stand that?! What are you, invulnerable?”

“It’s efficient! How can you not bite into ice cream? It isn’t that bad!”

Hux laughs, lightly shouldering Ren.

 

Hux doesn’t really know how he got himself into this situation, and all he can do is assess it.

He’d been dragged to a party by Ren, who he absolutely cannot find, and is now standing in the kitchen with a foul smelling glass of alcohol and some poor bastard passed-out drunk on his shoulder. Hux doesn’t really want to move, partly so he doesn’t end up dumping the kid on the floor, mostly because he’s afraid of what he’ll find when he does find Ren.

 

(this was originally the beginning of chapter 7)  
“You did what.”

“I just said it, Phasma, please pay attention.”

“Hux. This is huge. No offense, but what in hell were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking that it was too hard to repress anymore. I just spoke from the heart. I don’t think he remembers, anyway.”

“Still.”

Hux took a very uninterested bite of his sandwich, determined to make Phasma drop it. He just wanted to notify her and move on, not dwell on it. But for some reason, she insisted on making it a bigger deal than it was. Ren may not have been a sleepy drunk, but he was a forgetful drunk. It’s not like there was anything to worry about.

Probably.

Hopefully.

 

That’s what Hux hopes, at least. Ren never seemed to remember things that he'd done while drunk, but he wasn't 100% sure. What if Ren did remember? What would Hux do?

Well, if he does remember, I'll just change my name and move to Alaska. Hux thinks to himself dryly. He doesn't repeat this to Phasma, though.

Phasma runs a hand through her short, blonde hair. Hux looks down at his shoes, unsure of what to say. They sit in silence for a bit, before Phasma takes a large swig of her water bottle, finishing it, and crushing it before throwing in the recycle bin. Hux smirks at this seemingly unnecessary move, but smirks even wider when he sees the boys that were ogling her from another table wince as the sound travels through the cafeteria. He stands up to follow her as she packs up her bag to leave, and they walk together until they have to branch off to go to their respective classes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How are you doing today, Mitaka?”

Mitaka isn't expecting this question, and he absolutely doesn't believe that Hux is genuinely interested in his wellbeing. But, of course, Hux has surprised him before, even though now it feels like he’s trying to get Mitaka to talk so he isn't focusing on his own thoughts.

“I am fine, today. Classes are going well. I have a film project that I need to finish before next Wednesday.”

“That's good. I'm sure you are fully capable of completing it by that deadline. What is the plot?”

 

 

Winter blows in full force, and it isn’t long before the pavement is covered in pure, white blankets of snow. The air is thick with the smell of pine and gingerbread, LED Christmas lights cover houses and sloppily built snowmen keep watch over yards. 

Hux hates Christmas.

His family doesn’t celebrate it, having been deemed useless to indulge in that sort of pleasantries. Instead, winter break was more like an extended study period; Hux spending all of the two weeks in his room doing the work that teachers had skeptically handed to him when he asked for extra.

He’s never particularly cared about the white snow or decorations all over the neighbors’ yards. But he can’t help but feel bad as he watches families play together and seem to actually enjoy each other’s company, and then that bad feeling turns into anger as he thinks that none of them know what’s going on inside his family, no one knows the struggle he’s gone through. How dare this family be carefree and loving while Hux’s is so cold and harsh?

Hux can't imagine his family ever being that close. Ever getting along that well. He can only imagine the fiery aftermath, with Elana shaking and shouting while Brendol argues with her and eventually explodes with violent anger and neither of them speaking to each other for a month.

Not like they talk a whole lot anyway.

Christmas is just another night and day for the Hux family, and Hux almost forgets about it until Ren texts him the day before.

got any plans for jesuss birth

that’s an elegant way to put it.

i mean it isnt wrong

beside the point. anyway, no. our family doesn’t celebrate this kind of thing.

u should come over for the night 

 

Hux looks at his phone screen for a minute, unsure of how to respond. On one hand, he is fairly sure he’d enjoy spending Christmas with the Solo-Organas. But on the other, he’s not sure if his father will let him go anywhere. He’s already spent several weekends over at Ren’s house, and while there isn’t a specific curfew, he can tell when Hux Sr starts to get irritated by Hux leaving the house.

But the offer’s too good to pass up. He’s already done with his homework, his room is impossibly clean as always, and there’s nothing more to do but feed Millie. He steels himself, preparing to go talk to his father.

Once he reaches the top of the stairs, Hux knows there’s no going back. Hux Sr has caught sight of him, and he knows that Hux almost never emerges from his room when not required. He waits for Hux to come down the stairs before speaking, and Hux chooses to take that as a good sign, but his heart sinks involuntarily as it probably isn’t.


	9. other notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> timelines/character notes

World fair/hux pining  
School starts senior year  
Hux and kylo are caffeine addicts but at least they're caffeine addicts with each other  
Snoke keeps trying to get Kylo to join fencing  
Hux gets kicked off the debate team for being a total dick (and nazi) in some way and has to hide it from his dad (he made one of the members of another debate team cry)  
Classroom descriptions  
Kylo has nightmares, Hux’s sarcastic ass helps somehow  
Kylo is really into theatre and art, throws temper tantrums when he doesn't get the lead role  
Hux’s dad could be like, “hey, Kylo is a punk bitch. Stop hanging out with him. He likes theatre and that's fucking gay.” (lmao little does he kno)  
Hux and kylo go on weird 3 am trips to mcdonalds and talk about the universe  
Serious talk: which college do you choose  
Rey finn and poe are doing a school fundraiser and make kylo help so he makes hux help  
Kylo continuously misinterprets Hux liking him as just being a really good bud.  
Kylo is really bad at geometry. Hux, coincidentally, is very good at geometry  
Hux is really good at world history, specifically Nazi Germany.  
Hux takes german  
Kylo takes french for credit requirement and guilty pleasure  
Kylo (alternate pining side) says je t'aime a lot and hux has no idea what that means  
Phasma is the head of the football team, and no, not the girl’s team  
Kylo becomes student body president somehow (probably a write-in or blackmail via Hux’s assistance)  
Hux is super good at manipulating people into giving him what he wants, has at least some control over what happens in this school (also uses dad’s position)  
Hux has a mental breakdown in the rain one day and kylo helps and cheers him up with mudballs  
Kylo is somehow really good at basketball, probably because tol and big hands (yaoi hands)  
Hux totally snuggles the pillow with Kylo’s shirt on it  
Kylo falls asleep on Hux’s shoulder a lot  
Hux wakes up after a small drinking party, with Kylo and phasma and maybe the trio, and goes into the bathroom, getting ready to shower, but finds Kylo in the shower, dead asleep  
Hux is in a towel and fuckin jumps outta his skin after accidentally stepping on Kylo instead of looking into the shower first   
(end of fic but before confession) hux and kylo are at a sleepover and hux thinks kylo is dead asleep (surprise surprise, he ain’t (...kinda)) so hux kisses kylos forehead/pats his hair/idk something sappy and kylo feels it but he thinks he’s still dreaming  
Hux and kylo become cuddle buddies, mostly because jedistormpilot and them had a sleepover and the trio snuggling together so kylos like well if they’re gonna do that then u are gonna be my snuggle buddy 4 tonight u have no choice  
Hux is dead inside literally anytime Kylo touches him, but especially now  
Hux is unused to physical affection but likes it (occasionally feels like he’s overstimulated sometimes), tries to be open to other people touching him but ultimately dislikes it  
Hux is a hardcore asexual (but a demiromantic) and hella gay for kylo  
Kylo is perfectly okay with Hux’s preferences and accepts him for him  
Kylo secretly loves it when Hux snakes an arm around him (‘yessssss im the favorite,’ Kylo believes it to be completely platonic)  
Kylo’s an idiot. Pure and simple. Dense motherfucker. (but hux loves him)  
Phasma keeps it hush, but finds it hilarious on how dense Kylo is  
Hux comes over to kylos for christmas, leia and han have gifts already bought, hux has spent the last few christmas’ at their house (hux finds it hard to spend holidays with his family)  
Phasma is always dtf (down to fite)  
Only one bed trope

~CHARACTER NOTES~  
Snoke is the weird guidance counselor that's been there forever and does not actually do his job and keeps trying to get kylo to live up to anakins ??fencing?? legacy  
poe is super popular and owns a motorcycle and brings his dog bb8 (who's a puppy golden retriever with a orange and white sweater knitted by leia) to school and is on the football team, also a die hard memer, learns how to write in comic sans. It's all he ever writes in now.  
Leia is a school board committee member  
Han is a mechanic, also is a low key criminal and he has a scruffy dog OR scruffy dude friend named Chewie  
Hux’s dad is police chief that is also a shady ass person, disapproves of Hux doing anything like theatre or art, thinks physical abuse is beneath him, uses verbal abuse instead, homophobic, living embodiment of a meninist  
Huxs mom literally just stares at a wall all fukkin day what are you doing elana  
Finn is an innocent bab leave him alone, doesn't understand memes but tries his hardest  
Also into cartoons like su and gf  
Rey takes tae kwon do lessons from Luke, Rey sighs at Poe’s memes, explains them to Finn, also the pun master of this group, also the only one of the trio that actually has a job (‘works’ at hans garage)  
Hux absolutely refuses to be referred to by his first name  
Kylo and rey are cousins  
Hux only calls kylo ‘kylo’ when hes feeling particularly cuddly or really tired, any other time he just calls him ren  
Kylo calls hux ‘general’ a lot, its his special nickname for the dork ass ginger  
Hux has a fucking temper holy shit   
Also his gaze will literally turn you to stone  
If you make him angry or threaten him or anything he will absolutely destroy you either with information and snarky comebacks or setting kylo to descend upon you like a furious bear  
Phasma turns out to be one of huxs best bros but they have a pretty rocky start  
Mitakas in this too boys hux and him are classmates in math and biology and they are the Science Bros™, hux likes to gross out the teacher with his knowledge of the human body (like what color organs are and exactly how much blood loss it takes to kill you) and mitaka assists in some way, also pretty good pals but they dont meet out of school  
Hux is really into architecture

 

Text Ideas

Hux text name for Kylo: Ren (<3)  
Phone icon is one of Ren’s sharpie drawings OR the painting Ren made Hux  
Kylo text name for Hux: smol evil ginger bf (best friend no homo lol)  
Phone icon is the first order symbol

 

k:hux, i think i actually like dick  
is this weird  
answer

h:is that a confession

k:hux, this is not the moment to be an ass

 

k:hey  
hux, are u awake

h:yeah.

k:okay good.  
…  
i had another nightmare.

h:would you like to talk about it?

k:no.

h:okay. well, ill be here.   
you can come over if you’d like.

k:...that’d be nice.   
im gonna drive over.

h:back door is open.

k:thanks.

h:mm.

 

h:hey.

k:hey  
...what's wrong?  
h:can we meet somewhere? i need to get out of the house for awhile.

k:sure.

k:McDonald's? 

h:sure.  
...thank you.

k:no problem.

LETS TALK ABOUT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

http://snrksrlyhard.tumblr.com/post/147178656393/about-armitage-hux

 

WOO ITS THREE IN THE MORNING YEAH

NOTE TO SELF: HUX IS EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH PHYSICAL CONTACT THAT ISN’T REN OR MAYBE PHASMA

~3 AM NOTES~

Chapter five?? Six?? Losin track

Using ur shirt as a pillow case  
Lets just have a fkcing chapter about hux obsessing and also coming to terms with his gayness,,,, als o possible phasma interaction maube even hux sr

Ur my best friend  
More best friend shit

Doin bad things that u dont know about  
Probably like blackmail or some shit  
Maube like a chapter on the abuse of hux sr idk

Stealin ur stuff now and then  
Hux just takes what he can man the dudes got a crush  
Loosk around and realies a lot of things arent his exert  
His room probably has more darth vader shit in it than rens now

Nothing ud miss but it means the workd to me  
Maybe just a hybrid  
Ren is literally huxs world like hux would not go outside if not for ren so maybe sime of that

Lots and lots of hux pining hell eyah  
Theres probably a shit ton of tropes i could employ but i gotta reserach

Jenny takemy hand  
Something illegal  
I mean theyre high schoolers right theyre gonna do simthin ill eagle ha ha ill eagle its SICK  
Probably weed  
Breaking and entering?? Like pranking on poe or something

I cannot pretend why ill never like ur new boyfried  
Maybe like  
A jealousy chapter idk  
Who the heck would go out with this awkward jelly bean  
Maybe ill self insert just for the lolz  
Not seriously but like a shit post

Break ups maybe??? Like ren goin through tough shit and hux is Here For You but also sorta glad

 

Ren might think it was all a dream but maybe not  
WEIRD TIPTOEING AROUND EACH OTHER LIKE “what do we do now fuck”  
And hux over her e is half convinced ren knows nothing  
Maybe a rain confession lenny face  
Kissing assholes in the rain aw yeah  
NOT LIKE THAT I JUST  
FUCK I DIIDNT EVEN REALISE  
They are assholes and theyre kissin g in the rain  
Not  
U know what i meant ur me  
I am myself i know what im talking about

Anyway lets have some fucking angst chapters with huxs goddamn dad!!  
Like seriously who let this man have a child  
I would never let hux stay in this household jfc  
Oooo maybe that is a thing that ren should say  
And hux is all “theyre my family” but also maybe he doesnt give a shit  
Maybe he says fuck it and they run away together  
God this sounds like toradora  
I cant help it it was a great anime  
This couple couldnt be further than ryuiaga tho  
Umm  
OO OO  
Maybe hux like waits until the absolute last day b4 he goes off to college and then he sits his dad down and is like dad. I have. An important thing.  
And hux sr is like yes my child is finally becoming a man. Tears of joy.   
And the hux is just like lolololololololl im a fucking fairy fuck you dad im gonna go be gay for the reast of my life  
Hux sr is like get out of my house and hux is like “that was the idea”

 

Lets play is this fic going to have an after ending thing (epilogue)  
Theres a fancy word for it but i forget  
Ill probaly throw one in just for the hell of it  
Rens probably an artist or some shit and hux is either architecture or law  
Ren could also play video games for a living thatd be hilaroious  
Im tired but i gotta be productive

Of course i could make this fic 50 chapters long but why would i do that  
I could just keep going on and on about this damn thing

More notes  
Kylo is a die hard bob ross fan  
Its canon we’re doing it  
Hell watch bob ross videos at three in the morning and hux is just like what the actual shit

Aight i should probably sleep  
Gnight everybod  
~end 3am notes~

~Notebook notes~  
Into winter  
Snow days/ski trip/christmas  
Huxs family doesnt celebrate christmas so hux goes to rens for the night  
Ren stays up all nght for santa claus like the actual child he is  
Surprise surprise mrs. organa got hux presents  
Close with “merry christmas general”  
“Merry christmas, kylo (knight? ren?)

[spring]  
Hanging out with jedistormpilot  
Memes, cartoons, and puns  
Bb8 interaction  
College!  
Hux looks into architecture on the downlow  
Conveniently, any school that he looks into also has an art program (for ren)  
The pranks  
Self insert for the lols  
Break up  
??uh??  
Theyre together now  
When hux starts moving out his dad still thinks hes going to harvard  
Ren is carrying all the shit in his truck  
They begin to leave but just before  
Hux looks hux sr right in the eyes, then takes rens face in his hands and kisses him  
Escape featuring hux and ren driving away and giggling like idiots  
Elana faints  
Hux sr fucking explodes  
Its beautiful


End file.
